Survey of Drugs on College Campuses Finds Women Are Less Frequent Users

A new report from the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan finds that illicit drug use is more prevalent among male college students than it is among women college students. The survey found that 45 percent of men in college had used any illicit drug over the past year, compared to 39 percent of college women. When marijuana was excluded, 25 percent of men and 15 percent of women in college reported illicit drug use.

Nearly 7 percent of college men, but only 3.4 percent of college women reported daily use of marijuana. Men in college were more likely than their women peers to take illegal doses of Vicodin, OxyContin, Ritalin, Adderall, cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines.

College men were more likely to have said they had been drunk in the past 30 days than college women by a margin of 44 percent to 34 percent. Men were also more likely than women to engage in binge drinking and extreme binge drinking (10 or more drinks in a short period).

College men were twice as likely as college women to report daily cigarette smoking. But equal numbers of men and women reported that they smoked more than a half pack per day. Women in college were only one fifth as likely to report cigarette smoking than young women who were not in college.

The full report, Monitoring the Future: National Survey Results of Drug Use, Volume 2, College Students and Adults Ages 19 to 55, may be downloaded by clicking here.